


Avengers Reassembled

by ThePandalien



Series: Earth 200,000 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: X-Men References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28324848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePandalien/pseuds/ThePandalien
Summary: After Peter Parker dropped the bombshell that Wally West, aka the Flash, would be taking over the Avengers, Wally finds himself struggling to pull together a new team. Between his rocky start with the new Avengers and the fallout from the Highcastle Incident, Wally has a steep learning curve if he's going to lead this group and not a lot of time to surmount it. Good thing he's the fastest man alive.
Series: Earth 200,000 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699942
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! As requested, I have returned with another entry in the Earth 200,000 series (though Spiderman: Home for the Holidays would have probably been a more appropriate entry for the season).  
> Now I know I said at the end of the last one that I would finish my Harry Potter stuff first and I obviously haven’t done that yet, but I found that the direction I had originally wanted to go with that project is no longer the way I want to go. Of course, I don’t actually know where I want to go with it anymore which is why that project is now on indefinite hiatus.  
> Now, when I first started posting New Beginnings, I managed to post around a chapter a week. Unfortunately, I will not be able to do that with this fic for a number of reasons. The biggest of these being that my new job is very demanding and doesn’t leave me with a whole lot of time or energy at the end of the day or even on weekends. On top of this I’m also learning to code (so I can do something with my life that’s more creative and thus better for my brain than project management) and I’m about halfway through the first draft of my first original novel. So with all this going on, it will take me a long time to formulate, write, and edit the chapters so they’re up to snuff even though I already have a rough outline of what I want to do here. So, apologies in advance for the long gaps between updates but please do stay tuned so you don’t miss a chapter.  
> Finally, although I will still be crossposting between AO3 and FFN, I will have more of a presence on AO3 from here out. I just find I like the platform better overall.  
> Anyway, enough blabbering from me. Hope you enjoy the story.  
> -Pandalien

“The sudden increase in enhanced humans is almost certainly the result of the snap.” The bald, wheelchair-bound man being interviewed on the TV spoke with such authority and confidence that Tommy would have felt like snorting derisively. But even despite the decidedly pompous-sounding British accent, he couldn’t help but find himself enraptured by the interview’s contents, not least because it might have something to do with his own origins and background. His recollection of which was, unfortunately, spotty at best.

“You see, there is a small percentage of the human population that possesses a certain mutant gene that, when activated, can result in a wide variety of what we would call ‘superhuman’ abilities,” the man continued.

“You’re talking about the Inhumans and Terrigenesis right?” the interviewer asked in clarification.

The bald man chuckled good naturedly. “Well, I suppose there’s them as well, but no. This gene is different, although it’s entirely possible that it resulted from a similar set of experiments by alien creatures deep in our past. The gene also seems to have different activation conditions relating to exposure to cosmic energy as opposed to exposure to Terrigen.”

“Cosmic energy like what was released by the blip.”

The man nodded. “Exactly. Those individuals who survived the snap were exposed to the resulting cosmic energies not once, but _twice_. First, when half the world’s population was erased and again when they were brought back.”

“And so now these… X-men are cropping up all over the world.”

The bald man grimaced slightly though it looked to Tommy like he’d attempted to hide it behind a timid smile for the sake of propriety. “Yes. I prefer the term mutant,” the man replied. “It’s rather more scientific and less egotistical than naming them after myself but the internet’s name for them seems to be catching.”

“Well, I dare say, Professor Xavier, you’ll have to deal with it,” the interviewer said with a chuckle. “You’ll go down in human history along with Doctors Alzheimer and Parkinson.”

Professor Xavier’s cheerful expression instantly turned so chilly that Tommy thought he could feel it through the flat screen in front of him. “I hope you don’t mean to imply that this is some kind of disease,” he replied coolly. “Most mutants are capable of living perfectly ordinary lives with little to no additional care or medical attention.”

“Of course not, Professor,” the interviewer replied hastily. “It’s just that the impact on socie—”

Tommy cried out in protest when the TV blinked out, cutting off the interview. He spun around to face his handler who held the remote firmly but was otherwise relaxed with his contemptuously bored expression turned on the teen. “I was watching that!” Tommy protested.

“You should be reviewing your cover,” his handler, replied flatly.

“I’ve reviewed the damn thing a hundred times Suit.” Tommy could never remember his name. Not that he was usually bad with names, he just didn’t think it was worth learning _this_ particular person’s name. So, he just called him Suit.

“You should review it _more_ then.”

Tommy pushed himself off the cheap and slightly saggy and worn couch to face Suit, arms crossed defiantly over his chest. “If you’re worried about me remembering then don’t.”

“It takes a lot of effort and concentration on the part of _trained agents_ to successfully learn their deep cover personas. More than you’ve put into it, Thomas.”

“Well I’m _not_ your ordinary trained agent,” Tommy replied.

“No, you’re an easily distracted juvenile delinquent.”

“ _Former_ delinquent,” Tommy corrected. “I’m reformed now.”

“For all of the two weeks since you’ve been in our custody,” Suit pointed out.

Tommy ignored him. “ _And_ if you recall, it’s not like I’ve got a whole lot of other memories to conflict with my cover, unlike your ordinary agents. Honestly, I might as well _be_ Tommy Shepherd.”

“Thomas Shepherd is a complete fiction—”

“Who _cares_?” Tommy rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in exasperation. “Useful fiction meets mystery amnesiac,” Tommy continued, gesticulating to help illustrate his point. “Match made in heaven if you ask me.” He then took advantage of his enhanced abilities to snatch the remote back from Suit and turn the TV back on before flopping back on the couch. “And it’s _Tommy_. When you call me Thomas it makes me sound like I’m forty.”

Suit snatched the remote back and the TV blinked off again. “Well, _Tommy_ ,” he sneered. “Get your ass off the couch and grab your file and read it again. We leave for the compound in ten minutes and you’ll have plenty of time for review on the trip to New York.”

Tommy sighed in exasperation but complied anyway, following Suit through the winding corridors of the safehouse after collecting his file. “I don’t get why I’m doing this anyway,” Tommy said when they finally got underway. “I thought the cyclops and the Avengers were chill. Why’s he need me to spy on the red speedster?”

“Fury doesn’t trust easily and he’s only known Mr. West for a matter of months. He’s an unknown quantity and so are all the other new Avengers team members. With most of the old members off doing their own thing, he wants to have someone on his side he can use to hold the fort.”

“You mean someone under his thumb,” Tommy pointed out.

“Exactly,” Suit replied simply. Tommy had to admit, that wasn’t quite the response he’d expected. He’d thought Suit would’ve at least sort of tried to convince him that what he was doing was a good thing. But nope. Their relationship here was perfectly clear. Tommy complies, or else he finds himself trying to survive in a world where he doesn’t technically exist and whose technology seems strangely retro for some reason to the point that it’s sometimes difficult to operate even commonplace things. Oh, and there would also be at least one global spy agency on his tail and possibly ordinary law enforcement and the Avengers if Fury was feeling particularly threatened or vindictive. Tommy could run, but he most definitely wouldn’t be able to hide.

Suit and Tommy were both silent for a while after that conversation before Tommy asked the question that had been bothering him ever since the start of Professor Xavier’s interview. “Am I an X-man?” he asked. “X-boy?” That still didn’t sound quite right but before he could think of a cooler name Suit answered.

“Not exactly.”

“And what’s that mean?” Tommy asked.

“It means the egg-heads said not exactly but any attempt to elaborate on the difference between you and one of Xavier’s mutants went over the heads of everyone in the room who wasn’t also an egg-head.”

Unsatisfied but resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t get a clearer answer, Tommy opened his file once more and pretended to review it _again_. Neither of them spoke again until they arrived at the Avengers’ compound and Suit’s only words were, “Check-in’s at twenty-two hundred. Don’t miss it.” Then his handler drove off, leaving Tommy standing in front of the compound with his bags.

“Well, I guess this is it.”


	2. The Wrong Foot

White light shone in through the compound windows brightly illuminating the countertop of the kitchen bar and the surrounding furniture and appliances. Despite the lateness of the year, the room was as well illuminated as in summer, but where the sunlight of summer cast everything in a warm glow, the light reflecting off the fresh snow outside was harsh like the glow of a fluorescent bulb and sharpened the edges of all the shadows.

Wally glanced at the oven clock. The digital display read five-to-ten. Five minutes before the new recruits were supposed to start arriving and even though five minutes was still a _long_ time for a speedster, Wally still didn’t feel ready for the upcoming meeting.

_Impending would be a more appropriate way of describing it._

Recruitment for the Avengers had been going very poorly, to say the least. The media knew all about it, of course, but were all extremely perplexed. After all, given the sudden uptick in the number of enhanced individuals on planet earth and the reputation and prestige that the Avengers had recovered post-blip, they all thought he and Mrs. Stark would be drowning in applications. Especially after Peter’s press conference at the end of the whole Highcastle incident.

But Wally understood perfectly. It didn’t matter that suddenly there were thousands of people with superhuman abilities. Most people, including the newly enhanced, were still normal. Ordinary. They had families, and day jobs, and perfectly “mundane” aspirations that they weren’t just going to abandon because they’d suddenly gotten superpowers.

That wasn’t to say that the ordinary person was unheroic or fundamentally selfish. Wally knew both from experience and from the countless news stories featuring suddenly enhanced individuals around the country using their abilities to intervene in some unexpected crisis or another that people could be extremely selfless and heroic. But rescuing the residents of a New York apartment that had unexpectedly caught fire on your commute home from work was most definitely _not_ the same thing as committing your life to a team of superheroes whose job, among other things, was to stop the end of the world on a regular basis.

As such, the Avengers had only managed a handful of new recruits and unfortunately, they were all very young. Apart from Harley Keener, who was about Wally’s age, they were basically fresh out of high-school. Except for Thomas Shepherd, whose records showed he was a high-school dropout and a juvenile delinquent who happened to have developed super-speed. His concerns about Shepherd’s reliability aside, their youth hadn’t sat well with Wally and he’d wanted to reject the younger three and keep looking. But Mrs. Stark had reminded him that they were all adults so he couldn’t just boot them because he thought they were too young. Then there was also the problem of still not actually having any Avengers veterans on the Avengers team. Unless you counted him and Peter which really just meant him since Peter was doing the smart thing and focusing on his education first.

The truth was, it wasn’t really their age that bothered him so much. Sure, it was a bit of a concern for him. Although some might call him a hypocrite, he would have argued that he just had the benefit of experience. But what was _really_ bothering him was that he was now in a leadership position and he’d never really done that before. Usually that was Kaldur or Dick’s job and even then, at least in the beginning, they still got their missions from the League.

Now though, he not only had to figure out how to best train and lead them, but he was also _responsible_ for them. He could handle being responsible for a bunch of experienced heroes who knew what they were doing and were well aware of the risks they took. What he was less sure he could handle would be if one of the eighteen-year-olds, kids who should really be in college, got hurt, or worse. Because if that happened, then that was on him.

In the distance, Wally saw a black sedan driving up the road to the compound. He glanced back up at the clock. Three minutes now.

_Guess I’d better go meet them._

He arrived in the common area just as the first of the new recruits stepped through the front door. Before his eyes was a lanky, five-eight teen with green eyes a mop of untidy white hair, superspeed, and a criminal record. Wally wondered, not for the first time, if it was a good idea to bring Thomas Shepherd on but he recalled his own girlfriend hadn’t always been on the right side of the law and apparently the Black Widow used to be a KGB assassin. So, Wally decided if this was the intervention needed to keep the kid from becoming a supervillain, he’d do it. Besides, up to now Shepherd’s record consisted exclusively of petty crimes so he wasn’t beyond redemption.

When the kid finally noticed Wally, a there was a brief moment where he thought he saw uncertainty and a hint of fear on his face. But an instant later it was replaced with a vaguely sarcastic devil-may-care smirk. “The Flash, I presume?”

“If you like,” Wally replied with what he hoped came across as a welcoming smile. “But I hear that secret identities aren’t as big a thing in this universe as they were in mine so Wally’s fine.”

The kid seemed to think about the choice of names for a moment before saying, “Nah, I think I’ll stick with Flash. Makes you sound like your only superpower is jumping out of an alley in a trench coat*.” Although he should have probably expected that coming from someone with his record, Wally found himself dumbstruck and he felt his cheeks color just a little in embarrassment. Thomas either didn’t notice, didn’t care, or else he was just pretending not to care because he continued right on. “And I’m Tommy,” he said. “I know whatever file the government people or whoever it was that arranged this as my probation probably listed me as Thomas but I’m eighteen and Thomas makes me sound old.”

Wally cleared his throat. “Tommy it is then,” he replied before deciding he should address the kid’s inappropriate behavior. “And while I enjoy a good sense of humor as much as the next guy, you would probably do well to keep things a little more professional.”

“Whatever you say Flash,” Tommy returned with a mock salute. Unfortunately, Wally found that once the association had been pointed out to him, he couldn’t forget it. He feared that he would forever think back to this moment every time someone used his code name. The cocky grin on Tommy’s face told him that he knew it.

Thankfully, he was saved any more awkwardness when the door opened again to admit the remaining three new recruits. The younger two of them, a boy who could have passed for Tommy’s twin but for his hair and eye color which were both dark, and a dark brown-haired girl whose bow-case painfully reminded Wally of Artemis, were chatting with Harley.

Although he and Harley had never met, he’d come highly recommended by Pepper. His had been the first application Wally had seen and with the recommendation, his acceptance had been almost assured. He had the determination and the brains and, if Mrs. Stark was to be believed, was a lot like Tony in all the right ways. Genius-level intellect, check. Mechanical aptitude, check. Even better, he already had at least some kind of connection with the original Avengers so it wouldn’t be as difficult to bring him up to speed as it would the others. Mrs. Stark was even thinking of hiring him so he didn’t strike out on his own and set up a competitor to Stark Industries. An all-around powerhouse.

Wally was just musing on how Harley would be a good candidate as a kind of team leader, either as a kind of co-captain with Wally or even in place of him, when the two of them made eye contact. Instantly the confident cheerfulness on Harley’s face turned cold. The change perplexed Wally but before he could think on it further, Tommy had zipped across the room and interposed himself between his look-alike and Harley, chattering almost at super-speed. “Hey there guys, and gal. Is that a thing? Do people still say gal?” he gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling for a fraction of a second before resuming his chattering. “I’m Tommy, nice to meet you. And you must be Harley, Katheryn, I think I’ll call you Kate, and William,” he continued, shaking each of their hands in turn. “And that up there is my man Flash.”

The instant Kate and William noticed Wally, they shifted to a rather more rigid demeanor that Wally supposed they thought was professional but came across as military instead. “Relax,” Wally said with a placating gesture. “I’m here to lead and train you, I’m not your boss. And thanks for the introductions Tommy,” Wally added. “But I’d prefer if you called me Wally.”

“Whatever you say Flash,” Harley replied coolly.

Wally couldn’t stop his eyebrows from raising ever so slightly and was about to ask if the guy had a problem with him when Tommy interrupted. “Yeah,” he said with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around the shoulders of his look-alike. “Relax Tommy-Two. It’s not like we’re barely out of high-school and going into probably one of the most dangerous professions out there for no other reason than to fight the good fight and live at this _awesome_ abode Stark set up for us.” Tommy waved his free arm in a wide arc gesturing to their surroundings as he finished his statement. “After all, it’s not like we actually get paid.”

“Actually—” Harley looked like he wanted to correct the younger speedster but William interrupted.

“It’s Will,” he said sternly, his gaze boring into Tommy. “Just because I look a _little_ like you doesn’t mean you get to call me by _your_ name. Which I’m assuming is _Thomas_.”

Tommy scrunched his face a little in disgust at the name before shrugging. “Whatever you say Billy.” He said it with such nonchalance that Wally might have thought him unperturbed by Will’s comment. But, as it happened, the speedster’s comments left Will more turbed than the other way around.

Wally heaved a sigh. “Maybe we should start with teambuilding,” he suggested.

“Why’s that?” Tommy asked, feigning cluelessness.

“Because it seems to me like not everyone’s gotten off on the right foot.” Wally shot a meaningful look at Tommy who had the good grace to look sheepish. A little ribbing was fine, but generally not the best opener. Usually that was something you left for _after_ you’d actually become friends.

“The last thing we want,” Wally continued, “is to fall apart during training. This is a team which means we’ll all have to work together regularly.” Now it was Harley’s turn for a meaningful look which the other man met straight on. Wally wasn’t sure what his deal was, but he would have to get to the bottom of it and _fast_. After all, this was the guy who moments ago he was thinking of as a potential co-captain, it wouldn’t do for them to be at odds.

“So what did you have in mind?” Kate asked.

Wally was about to suggest a short teamwork exercise so they can get a feel for working with each other, but Harley interrupted before he could.

“How about we start with a tour of the compound instead,” he suggested. “That way everyone can get their bearings and get settled in.”

“Yeah, let’s start with that,” Will agreed.

“I’m game,” Tommy echoed. “Where to first, Flash?”

So, they started with a tour. Wally showed them the labs and holding cells as well as the other parts of the compound that were more related to their jobs first. Kate asked the most questions of everyone. Wally answered most of them, like “Why do we have holding cells? Aren’t we supposed to turn captives over to the relevant authorities?”

“Ordinarily, yes,” Wally replied. “But as Avengers, we’ll often be called in to deal with the things that the authorities aren’t really equipped to deal with in the first place. So the labs are to help with that, and the cells can be modified as needed to deal with a captive until the authorities can come up with something more permanent.”

Unfortunately, there were others that he couldn’t answer, not because he didn’t have one, but because he was busy keeping Tommy from getting himself into trouble with some of the more delicate instruments. As the only other speedster, he was really the only option for such a task which left Harley to answer anything he missed. Again, Wally reflected on how useful it was to already have an in on the superhero gig than to come in cold.

Finally, they got to the more domestic parts of the compound, like the kitchen, common areas, and, of course, the rooms. “Your rooms have all been assigned,” Wally explained, pointing out the name-cards on the doors. “Even if you don’t stay here at the compound full time, you’ll still have one available as long as you’re on the roster.”

“Why wouldn’t we stay here full time?” Tommy asked. “I mean, I realize this is what? The third Avengers HQ but damn it’s awesome!”

“You’re all still young,” Wally replied. “You might find yourself pursuing other things besides this.”

“Like what?” Will asked, apparently genuinely ignorant of what else he could do with his life.

“Like college,” Wally replied. “A career.” Wally then gestured to Harley, “Harley’s currently on track to land an internship with Stark Industries this summer.”

“Wait, so this _isn’t_ a Stark Internship?” Kate asked.

“No, Kate,” Tommy answered. “Remember, we don’t get paid.”

“That’s not actually—”

Harley’s second attempt to correct him was also interrupted, this time by the younger speedster’s zipping in and out of everyone’s rooms and depositing the bags they’d left in the entryway. “Well guys! Best get unpacking so we can get on with Flash’s team building exercise which I’m sure we’re _all_ excited for!” With that he left the corridor in a gust of wind. Wally wondered idly if Tommy might have ADHD.

Will and Kate went into their rooms to begin unpacking leaving Wally and Harley alone in the hallway. “Hey Harley,” Wally began, in an attempt to break the awkward silence. “I’m sorry I put you on the spot like that, but these guys are just so young and I think you’d make an excellent role model. You know, a way to show them that there’s more to life than just superheroing around.”

“I understand,” Harley replied. “I wouldn’t want them to be _overly_ focused on ‘superheroing around’ as you put it.”

Wally’s brow furrowed at the other man’s sarcastic tone. “Harley, I didn’t mean—”

“No, I get it. You’ve got other things you want to do besides run this show but you don’t want to feel bad about spending time on figuring out how to get back home instead.” Harley attempted to walk past Wally but Wally stopped him.

“Hey. Do we have a problem?” he asked. “Because it feels like ever since you laid eyes on me, we’ve been at odds and I don’t know why.”

Harley smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Not at all Flash. Why would we have a problem?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day guys. Merry Christmas! But like I said before, don't get used to it. The next gap will definitely be longer. Also, Tommy pulled a Cat Grant.  
> -Pandalien


	3. Teambuilding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello again everyone! Long time no see. So I’ve been working on this chapter on and off for a while (as I said last time, work is busy and I’m trying to learn to code among other things) but I finally got it finished in time to celebrate the return of The Flash (I know it technically aired yesterday but I don’t have TV so I have to wait until the day after for the CW to put the episodes on their website).  
> Not a whole lot happens in this chapter besides exposition though… Sorry but it was necessary.  
> On an unrelated note, I have a confession to make. I get very easily distracted and when my overactive muse comes knocking I really can’t ignore it for long if I want to stay sane. As such, I have a buttload of unfinished fics sitting on my hard drive that I’m unsure of whether I’ll actually ever finish or not. I was thinking of posting them anyway on AO3 in a special collection and putting them up for adoption. Of course, I might still add to them on my own anyway but like I said, I can’t really guarantee anything.  
> So, with that in mind, is such a collection something you guys would be interested in? Let me know in the comments.  
> -Pandalien  
> P.S. I almost forgot that I made a minor edit to the previous chapter with regards to Wally’s ideas for teambuilding just for the sake of continuity and because having them all sit around and talk about their backgrounds felt too much like an exposition-dump when I was writing it.

Will decided that teambuilding wasn’t as cringey as he thought it would be. In fact, it was actually kind of fun.

“On your left Billy!”

Will revised his assessment from “kind of fun” to “mostly annoying” as Tommy, who’d chosen the ridiculously unimaginative codename “Speed” blew past him in a gust of wind, rumpling his clothes and ruffling his loose hair in the process.

Will frowned.

Wally had set them up with a scenario for them to get some hands-on experience working as a superhero team. The scarlet speedster would play the part of villain and the newbies were the heroes. The goal was to rescue some MacGuffin, a hostage or something. Will couldn’t be bothered to remember as the “what” wasn’t really important to the exercise. Basically, it was a four-on-one game of capture the flag with superpowers. Unfortunately, Wally was _clearly_ much better at this than they were. Unsurprising, if the internet rumors about him starting as a _kid_ on another earth were true. Also, two members of their team didn’t seem to comprehend the _team_ part of teambuilding.

The first was Tommy, who seemed to find great joy in trying to take on the older speedster himself and failing every time. The other, oddly enough, was Harley who seemed to have some kind of axe to grind with Wally.

“Ouch!” Kate’s voice crackled over the comms.

Will could practically see her wince in sympathy as Tommy was thrown to the side at dizzying speeds followed shortly by the metal clang of Harley’s Iron-Man replica armor striking a small boulder nearby.

“Shouldn’t we help them?” Kate asked.

Will sighed. “Tried that, remember? They weren’t too keen on the idea of teamwork.”

“Still. They’ve got to be pretty beat up by now.”

“And yet, they keep going back for more,” Will uttered under his breath as Speed and “Iron Lad” as Tommy had dubbed him, picked themselves up and charged again, still not coordinated with one another or Kate and Will in the slightest. “Look,” Will said more loudly. “The only way we end this and get some lunch is if you and I go with the plan because those two are just gonna rinse and repeat until they’re useless.”

“Fine,” Kate grumbled. “Ready when you are.”

Will took a deep breath and then began waving his hands methodically, visualizing the way he wanted reality to change. He’d done stuff like this hundreds of times when he was still in school, but it was all small-scale stuff. Swapping cards in a shuffled deck, creating the illusion of a rabbit popping out of his baseball cap. Magic tricks was all it was, but _this_ trick would top all the others.

An instant later, an exact replica of himself was hurtling toward Wally at speeds almost as fast as Tommy. The scarlet speedster flinched for a moment as he caught the movement in his peripheral vision. Then, inexplicably, he turned his attention back to Tommy who was barreling toward him from another direction. Will was surprised enough that he almost lost control of the illusion. But he managed to hold it right up to the point it passed through Wally. The speedster, however, continued to ignore it in favor of Tommy and Harley.

Will was half dismayed that his plan had failed and half curious as to _how_ Wally had seen through the trick. That was until he realized that Tommy and Harley had been similarly thrown by the image of Will flying through someone’s body like a ghost. Clearly distracted and confused, the two of them collided in midair before colliding with Wally. Before the three of them could disentangle themselves, Kate reappeared on her perch from where she’d been hiding and fired a grappling arrow to retrieve the MacGuffin.

Will rose slowly from his own hiding spot. “That…”

“Went well?” Kate asked.

“I was going to say didn’t go as expected but yeah, I guess it went well in the end.”

“You could say that,” Wally said, dusting himself off as he rose from the tangle of limbs on the grass before reaching down to help Tommy and Harley up. Tommy graciously accepted the assistance, grinning like an idiot and apparently still high on adrenaline. Harley insisted on pushing himself up on his own power. “But it definitely could have gone better. The only reason you got the objective was that Will’s holographic projection spooked Tommy and Harley.”

“Illusion, actually,” Will corrected. “It was magic, not a hologram.” Wally’s brow crinkled and it looked like he wanted to say something but Will wanted an answer to something first. “And how _did_ you know it was an illusion by the way?”

Wally smirked. “No shadow.”

Will fought to keep his face impassive and almost failed. It wasn’t like conjuring a shadow as part of the illusion would have been much more difficult. He _really_ just forgot about it.

“Aside from that though,” Wally continued. “Can you tell me what you did wrong?”

Will ignored Harley’s eye-roll. At first he’d thought the techie had been kind of cool, but it was clear he had some kind of chip on his shoulder. “We didn’t work as a team,” he answered simply.

“Well, you and I did,” Kate pointed out.

“But think of how much faster and more easily you’d have beaten me if you’d _all_ worked together.”

“Didn’t we though?” Tommy asked. “I mean we were all going for you and the objective.”

“He means we should have coordinated,” Harley corrected. Will noted that his tone was somewhat condescending which he thought was a touch hypocritical since Harley hadn’t exactly been a team player either.

Wally didn’t seem to notice though. Either that or he ignored in favor of focusing on the learning opportunity. “For example, it might have helped to let each other in on what your skills and abilities are.”

“So we could better utilize them,” Kate said with a nod.

“Yeah,” Wally answered. “That too, but also so you’re not surprised like when Will’s holo- um, _illusion_ , ghosted through me.”

“That was totally crash by the way.” Everyone looked curiously at Tommy at the strange use of “crash” in a sentence but none more so that Wally. Tommy obviously didn’t notice because he plowed right on and asked, “What _is_ your power then? Illusions?”

“Uh, yeah,” Will replied somewhat flustered by the attention he was receiving from his look-alike. “Among other things. I’m basically a wizard.”

Wally looked skeptical but didn’t say anything.

“Like Doctor Strange?” Kate asked.

“Doctor who?” Tommy asked.

“No, Doctor Strange,” Harley repeated. “He’s an OG Avenger… sort of.” Harley shook his head. “Point is, he’s an actual wizard. Crazy good too apparently.”

“So I’ve heard,” Wally added, still seeming quite skeptical of the whole wizard thing.

“Anyway,” Will butt back in. “Yeah, like him. But I haven’t really had any training. It’s all been talent and trial and error on my part. So I doubt I’m as good as he is.”

“Well, when he gets back you can train with him,” Wally suggested. “That’s another thing that’s important. It’s good to learn to work as a team, but you also need to train yourselves individually.

Will nodded in agreement. “So when _is_ Doctor Strange getting back?”

“No idea unfortunately,” Wally answered. “He and Scarlet Witch are doing something time-travel related I guess.” The speedster’s phone began to ring then, distracting everyone. Wally checked the screen. “Sorry guys. I’ve got to take this. It’s Peter so it might be important. Go ahead inside for lunch. Get to know each other better, I’ll meet up with you shortly.” With that he excused himself before speeding off, leaving the four of them alone in the field.

A moment later, Tommy broke the awkward silence. “Race you guys!” A moment and a gust of wind later, and the younger speedster was also gone.

Will thought he heard Harley mutter something about “God-damned speedsters,” before engaging his repulsors and flying off after Tommy.

“And then there were two,” Will remarked.

“Any idea what their deal is?” Kate asked him.

Will shrugged. “I suppose we’ll find out over lunch,” he replied. “Maybe.”

When they made it back inside, it was to find that the kitchen had already been thoroughly raided. Of course, Will had expected everyone to be hungry, given the morning’s activities, but he had hoped that the other two new initiates into the Avengers would at least save some for him and Kate. What surprised Will even more was that most of the food had been claimed by Tommy who, between him and Harley, was the shorter and less muscular of the two.

Tommy must have seen the incredulous look on Will’s face when he entered because the speedster quickly apologized. “I can’t really help it though,” he added. “It’s a speedster thing. I need _way_ more calories than the average guy because of my metabolism.” There was another beat of silence before Tommy spoke up again. “So you’re a wizard huh, Billy?” he asked, trying to kill the awkwardness between the four of them with some small-talk.

“It’s _Will_ ,” Will corrected for what felt like the umpteenth time. He wasn’t sure if Tommy was trying to get under his skin, or just thick. “And yes, _Thomas_ , I am a wizard.” The speedster didn’t show any reaction to Wills use of the dreaded “old man” name and instead continued munching while Will and Kate scoured the kitchen for whatever might remain.

“We should restock before tonight,” Kate commented. “With _two_ speedsters plus the rest of us, there won’t be anything left for dinner if we don’t.”

Will was just about to voice his agreement and start planning a trip to town when Tommy spoke up again. “We should give you guys codenames too,” he said. Will let out a long-suffering sigh. It hadn’t even been a day and he was already struggling with his teammates. “Like you,” Tommy pointed at Kate. “You could be Arrow, or Arrowette.”

“Hawkeye,” Kate cut in. “If I’m getting a silly codename it’s going to be Hawkeye.”

“Ooh! Ooh! How about Hawkgirl!” Tommy suggested excitedly.

“Hawkeye,” Kate insisted as she forcefully set down her plate and sat to begin eating her meager sandwich. “Clint’s not using it anymore and he said I could have it.”

“Wait, you know Clint Barton?” Will asked as he joined his teammates at the table. “As in _the_ Hawkeye?”

Kate just nodded smugly. “He trained me, after the blip.”

Will let out a low whistle.

“Did he get you your spot on the team too?” Hartley asked, speaking for the first time since they’d all rejoined in the kitchen. His tone was strangely accusatory.

“Dude, what’s your problem?” Will asked.

“Yeah?” Kate echoed. “Besides, you’re one to talk about nepotism _Iron-Lad_. We all know you were Stark’s golden boy. His first surrogate son.”

Harley frowned in response before pushing himself up from the table. “I’m going to go get cleaned up,” he announced. “Start up a list for our run to town.”

Before Harley had left Tommy gestured to his unfinished meal and asked. “Are you gonna finish that?” But Harley ignored him so the meal was promptly scarfed down by Will’s look-alike (which was a bit disgusting considering it probably had all of Harley’s germs, but perhaps speedsters also had super-fast immune systems).

“What’s his deal?” Kate asked quietly.

“I told you, it’s my metabolism,” Tommy replied.

“Not you, Harley,” Kate replied.

“I can’t say for sure,” Will answered, “but I think it might have something to do with Wally leading the team.”

“But why take it out on me?”

“Because you guys kicked ass in teambuilding and Flash gave you props for it,” Tommy answered easily. “Meanwhile, he and I kept charging him like idiots until we ran into each other… like idiots.”

“Why _did_ you do that by the way?” Will asked.

Tommy shrugged. “Honestly, I’ve been cooped up and unable to run for weeks and sitting still is _literal_ hell for me so I wasn’t really thinking about the ‘objective’,” he explained. “Promise I’ll do better next time,” he added with a friendly smile.

“Why couldn’t you run?” Kate aske curiously.

“Tell you some other time.” Tommy waved his hand dismissively before pointing at Will. “Right now, _you_ need a codename. Something wizardy. Something like—”

“ _Not_ Merlin, for the love of all that is good,” Will interrupted.

“Okay, how about…” Tommy seemed to think for a minute before he announced, “Wiccan!”

There was a stretch of silence that quickly became awkward before Will said, “I’m Jewish.”

***

Will strolled through the aisles of the nearby Walmart, inspecting the shelves on either side of him and picking out various foodstuffs and cooking ingredients and adding them to the already very full cart he was pushing along with him. Tommy and Kate had gone off with their own cart as well which, naturally, left Will with Harley. Harley was still being salty, of course, but at least he’d toned it down some now that he was away from Kate and the speedsters.

Will decided to use this opportunity to investigate what was going on with him. “So…” he began uncertainly.

“So?” Harley returned.

“I notice you don’t seem to like Tommy or Wally that much. Kate too, though I didn’t really notice until we were having lunch.”

“And you’d like to know why.” It wasn’t a question.

“Well, yeah,” Will replied. “I mean, we’re supposed to be a team, right? Kinda hard to do that if we can’t get along.”

Harley gave a deep sigh and glanced around almost nervously, as if making sure they weren’t going to be overheard. Will thought it was a bit much but he kept quiet. “Look, I’m just not sure that those three are exactly trustworthy.”

“Why?” Will asked in confusion.

“Don’t tell anyone else, but because of my connection with Mrs. Stark, I got to see your personnel files,” Harley explained and Will elected not to comment on the invasion of privacy in favor of allowing him to continue. “You’re pretty much squeaky clean.”

“Thanks,” Will muttered sarcastically so that Harley couldn’t hear.

“But Tommy, he hasn’t exactly been on the right side of the law up to now.”

“What’s that mean?” Will asked. Because it could just mean he’d been an idiot in high school and smoked the occasional joint or gotten wasted or it could mean he’s some kind of secret assassin.

“He’s been in and out of juvie his whole life and after he got his powers, he started using them to rob places. The only reason he’s here is because he’s a speedster and the state thinks we might be able to reform him.” Will could see his point, but got the feeling Harley was being a bit extreme. Before he could comment though, Harley continued. “And then Kate used to train under Clint Barton.”

“Yeah, she told us,” Will replied.

“Did she also tell you that during the blip Barton was the international serial killer Ronin? Did she also mention that she’d been trying to get training from him that whole time and he only broke down and did it after Tony snapped the purple giant out of existence over a year ago?”

Okay, she had not told them that and Will had to admit he found it a touch more concerning than Tommy’s juvenile delinquency. But he still felt he should give her the benefit of the doubt, right? After all, Barton was and OG Avenger. Besides, it wasn’t like Kate was the one who got murdery during the blip.

“What about Wally?” Will asked.

Harley seemed to tense at that and, if Will was being honest, his answer sounded a bit like he was grasping at straws. “Well, we don’t really know much about him do we? Just what he’s told everyone.”

“So?” Will asked. “Shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt?” Not that Will had much doubt.

“This guy can move faster than a Starkjet and claims to be from another universe. You don’t think we should be suspicious? Do you really think he’s the best person to be taking over the Avengers?”

Will shrugged. “I mean, he kinda proved himself during the whole Highcastle Incident and Spiderman seems to trust him.”

Harley gave a small huff at that. “Just watch out for them, okay.” Then he proceeded further down the aisle to collect more groceries leaving Will to consider that Harley probably hadn’t been completely honest with him and pondering just why that was and if the other man was lying to himself as much as to Will.

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know about you guys but Patrick Stewart will always be Professor X for me. Of course I said the same thing about Morgan Freeman and God and then Amazon had to cast Frances McDormand in Good Omens…


End file.
